


on the ocean breeze

by jakia



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 05:06:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23006203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jakia/pseuds/jakia
Summary: “Hey, go make heart eyes somewhere else, bud. Your yearning is interrupting my brooding again.”Personal failings. War crimes. Moral gray area. Who knew that was what Caleb needed in order to feel love again?[silly fluff. post-97. Shadowgast + Empire Siblings]
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett & Caleb Widogast, Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 14
Kudos: 345





	on the ocean breeze

“Hey, go make heart eyes somewhere else, bud. Your yearning is interrupting my brooding again.” **  
**

The sun is setting on the _Ball Eater_. Across the calm ocean waters stands the disguised Essek–Desren Thane–chatting with Ludinas on the Assembly’s ship. He looks uncomfortable, in part because of the sun and in part because of Ludinas, certainly, and he doesn’t seem to notice Caleb’s staring, even though that’s all Caleb’s done for the better part of an hour. 

Beau has noticed, though. Beau _always_ notices.

“Terribly sorry,” Caleb smiles, not quite turning his body to face her, because turning would mean he’d have to look away from Essek, and such a thought feels like an undeserved punishment. “Would you like me to go yearn over on the other side of the ship? So that you may brood in peace?”

Beau rolls her eyes at him and leans over the edge of the ship, her arms on the rails, a mirror to Caleb’s own position. “You are _ridiculous_.”

“Uh huh.”

“He doesn’t even look like himself right now!”

“And yet,” Caleb gestures towards the disguised Essek. “He still looks lovely.”

“…He has committed war crimes.”

“Hmm, no, that does not ruin the appeal. Somehow it adds to it,” Caleb licks his lips, then looks across the ocean. The disguised silver hair blows gently in the breeze, and Caleb feels his heart race. It’s not as lovely as Essek’s actual hair, of course, but Caleb can use his imagination. 

Beau scrunches her face. “You need to be shamed. I am shaming you right now.”

Caleb laughs loudly. “You know, I was attracted to him before? Back before we knew,” he gestures over to the ship, where Desren-Essek and Ludinas are still conversing. “All of that. I thought he was handsome and charming, but I didn’t think anything would ever come of it, because he was important and good, certainly too good for me.”

Beau raises an eyebrow. “And now?”

“I’m going to marry him,” Caleb beams.

Beau groans, loudly.

“Or handcuff him to the bed,” Caleb continues, undeterred. “I haven’t decided which yet.”

He might do both, honestly.

Beau immediately begins hitting him repeatedly in the shoulder. “ _Stop_.”

“Personal failings. War crimes. Moral gray area. Who knew that was what I needed in order to feel love again?”

“I’m going to throw you overboard and drown you.”

“If you do that, how will you ever be my best man at my wedding?” She hits him again and groans, burying her face into his shoulder. “And here I was going to name one of our seven adopted children after you, Auntie Beau.”

“Auntie _Be_ –,” she is laughing now, hard, clinging to him mostly as a way to keep standing. “You are _such_ a piece of shit.”

And you aren’t brooding anymore, Caleb doesn’t say, but he does smile and lean over and kiss her on the head. 

“Seriously though,” she gestures across the ocean, where Ludinas is finally walking below deck. Across the way, Essek-Desren notices them, and waves at them quietly. “You’re into that? For real?”

His heart flutters a little bit as he waves back at Essek-Desren. 

“I think so?” he confesses, smiling as Essek-Desren goes down below deck, following Ludinas. “I am not…good with people. But I _get_ him. I understand him. He understands _me_. I–I like him, I think, I–” he looks to Beau as though he’s telling her a secret. “I would like to kiss him.”

She rolls her eyes. “He betrayed his country.”

“We are not so different, he and I,” and Caleb runs his hands down his bare arms and the scars that lay criss-crossed his arms, memories of the things he was willing to do for knowledge and power etched into his skin. 

For the first time in a long time, touching his scars does not feel painful. Instead, he briefly imagines Essek pressing gentle kisses into the scars on his arms, admiring the faults in him the way Caleb so clearly admires the faults and the broken lines on Essek.

“Narcissistic, too,” Beau chimes, and Caleb laughs so hard she has to drag him below deck.


End file.
